Professor Thomas Cotter

About the Cotter Research Group

The Cotter tumour biology research group

The main research focus in the Cotter Laboratory is in understanding the role of cell signaling pathways, in particular those that are redox regulated and active, in tumour cell survival and in degenerative conditions of the retina. The role of reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide has undergone a renaissance in the last decade with this molecule shown to be acting as both a driver of cell death (at high concentrations) but also more significantly as a specific activator of cell survival pathways at lower concentrations.  In the case of several tumours both leukaemia and colon we see an increase in ROS production on oncogene activation. From multiphoton microscopy this increase appears to be localised to the ER and is produced by activation of one member of the NADPH Oxidase (Nox) family of enzymes. This in turn activates the Akt/PI3k pathway by the inhibition of one of several negatively regulating phosphatases. The result is a stronger tumour cell survival signal which aids tumour development and hinder chemotherapeutic treatments. In the retina our focus is on the development of neuroprotective agents for the treatment of degenerative conditions of the retina in particular retinitis pigmentosa and related diseases.

Funding (€2m+) to support for our laboratory research work comes from the following agencies; Science Foundation Ireland, Irish Cancer Society, Health Research Board of Ireland and The Children’s Leukaemia Research project.

Professor Cotter has supervised 35 PhD students plus 8 MD, 3 MSc. students and published over 200 papers in addition to editing several books and monographs. His laboratory (9 scientists) is funded from a variety of sources. His published work has been cited more than 11,000 times. Eight of his publications are ‘citation classics’ (300+ citations each). H Index 53.

Current Research Projects

Coming soon.....

People in the Cotter tumour biology research group

Current Members

Alice Wyse-Jackson

Past Members

Dr Daniel Alvira Aguilera

Dr Ana Arroba

Dr Lavinia Bhatt

Dr Mark Carmody

Dr Sebastian Clerkin

Ms Aoife Corcoran

Dr Maryanne Donovan (PhD student and Postdoctoral Scientist)

Dr Francesca Doonan (PhD student and Postdoctoral Scientist)

Dr Karen England

Dr Sorcha Finnegan

Violeta Gomez-Vicente

Dr Gillian Greoger

Dr Fionnuala Hickey

Dr Will Landry (PhD student and Postdoctoral Scientist)

Dr Ashley Mackey

Dr Shane Madden

Dr Declan McKernan

Dr Ruth Naughton (PhD student and Postdoctoral Scientist)

Dr Carolyn O’Mahony (PhD student and Postdoctoral Scientist)

Dr Christopher Pettigrew

Selected publications

Full list of publications

For publications 1978 to date, please visit my publications on PubMed.

Selected Publications 2008 - 2014

Recent advances in reactive oxygen species measurement in biological systems.

Woolley, J. F., J. Stanicka and T. G. Cotter (2013).
Trends Biochem Sci 38(11): 556-565.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2013.08.009. (1,092kB)

H2O2 production downstream of FLT3 is mediated by p22phox in the endoplasmic reticulum and is required for STAT5 signalling.

Woolley, J. F., R. Naughton, J. Stanicka, D. R. Gough, L. Bhatt, B. C. Dickinson, C. J. Chang and T. G. Cotter (2012).
PLoS One 7(7): e34050.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034050. (652kB)

Inhibition of protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) mediates ubiquitination and degradation of Bcr-Abl protein.

Alvira, D., R. Naughton, L. Bhatt, S. Tedesco, W. D. Landry and T. G. Cotter (2011).
J Biol Chem 286(37): 32313-32323.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M111.249060. (4,069kB)

Apoptosis and cancer: the genesis of a research field.

Cotter, T. G. (2009).
Nat Rev Cancer 9(7): 501-507.
DOI: 10.1038/nrc2663. (387kB)

Redox survival signalling in retina-derived 661W cells.

Mackey, A. M., N. Sanvicens, G. Groeger, F. Doonan, D. Wallace and T. G. Cotter (2008).
Cell Death Differ 15(8): 1291-1303.
DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2008.43. (543kB)